Philip Moore's Atlas missile site sighting
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Contents 8
Philip Moore's Atlas missile site sighting
| Date | Late 1964, at night |
|---|---|
| Location | 579th Strategic Missile Squadron Atlas F sites 6–8, south-south-east of Roswell, New Mexico (Walker AFB) |
| Witness | Philip E. Moore, then a first lieutenant and deputy missile combat crew commander at Site 7 (later lieutenant colonel) |
| Observed by | Another site's crew; Moore's enlisted crew members and crew commander, from the silo cap |
| Description | A silent light hovering over Sites 6 and 8 and darting between them with instant stops and starts |
| Recorded | 2005 audiotape interview; later on video, by Robert Hastings |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 67 |
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Philip Moore, Robert Hastings |
| Year | 1964 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1964 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 5 |
Philip E. Moore, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, described a late-1964 incident at the Atlas missile sites around Roswell, New Mexico. A neighbouring launch site reported a UFO over its location, and members of Moore's crew at Site 7 went up and saw a silent light hovering over Sites 6 and 8 and darting between them.[1] He gave his account in 2005 to the researcher Robert Hastings, who later recorded him again on video. The anonymous UAP timeline in Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony lists it under late 1964.[1][5] Moore did not see the light himself.
The incident
- Moore was then a first lieutenant and deputy missile combat crew commander with the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron at Walker Air Force Base, on alert in the underground launch control capsule at Site 7.[1]
- The call. Late one night his crew commander, Major Dan Gilbert, took a call from a "sister" site, probably Site 6 though possibly Site 8. The other crew said a UFO was hovering over their site, moving rapidly away and then returning.[1] Moore thought the original sighting might have been made by a guard or an enlisted crew member at that site.[1] The earlier version of this article said Moore's crew reported the light. The first report came from the other site, and Moore's crew then confirmed it.
- What the crew saw. Gilbert sent the three enlisted crew members up to the silo cap at ground level. They reported a silent light zooming from the direction of Site 6 to Site 8 and back, stopping and hovering "instantly", with "no getting up to speed or slowing down". No binoculars were available.[1] Gilbert later went topside himself and saw the same activity. The light never came to Site 7.[1]
- Asked how the crew could be sure the light was over the other sites, an estimated 10 to 15 miles away, Moore said they assumed so because the crew commander who called "said that it was definitely over his site".[1]
- "By the time my turn came to go topside, the show was over so I didn't see anything," Moore said.[1]
Aftermath and Moore's view
- Moore said they were "never debriefed, never warned not to discuss it". There was no official acknowledgement, and it "seemed to be ignored above crew-level", though crew members talked about it freely.[1]
- He concluded: "I personally believe that there is something to the UFO-ICBM connection. I know the Air Force covers-up when it feels the official need. UFOs over ICBM sites could be one of those official needs."[1][5]
The squadron
- The 579th Strategic Missile Squadron at Walker AFB had twelve Atlas F missile sites around Roswell. Sites 6 and 7 were near Hagerman and Site 8 near Lake Arthur, a cluster south-south-east of Roswell.[2][1]
- The earlier version of this article said the squadron operated Atlas F missiles in underground silos from the early 1960s until the system was retired in 1965. Those dates are not covered in the sources read here.
Context
- Hastings recorded Moore alongside two other former launch officers, Jay Earnshaw and Gaylan King, for a planned documentary on UFOs at nuclear weapons sites. Earnshaw described security reports of silent, reddish, "stacked" lights near F.E. Warren AFB's Echo Flight in the mid-1960s. King described a 1966 or 1967 report of a craft with a reddish beam over a Minuteman site at Ellsworth AFB, followed by weeks of unmarked helicopters.[1] See Robert Hastings and UFOs and Nukes.
- The earlier version of this article said Hastings presented six former Air Force witnesses at the National Press Club in Washington in September 2010.[3] That report could not be read for this rewrite.
- Moore's account was given about four decades after the event, and is second-hand as far as the sighting itself goes. No official report of it has been released in the sources read here.[1]
People and topics
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Philip Moore — Atlas launch officer at Walker AFB who described a UFO near his capsule.
- Roswell Army Air Field — The bomber base at Roswell, home of the 509th Bomb Group in 1947.
- Robert Hastings — Researcher who has collected accounts of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites, author of UFOs and Nukes.
- Roswell — The New Mexico town at the center of the 1947 crash story.
- UFOs and Nukes — Robert Hastings's book on UFOs at nuclear sites.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
On the Timeline
- Fort Riley incident (1964) (10 December 1964) — A Fort Riley guard says soldiers were marched toward a large object lit by a helicopter.
- Martin Marietta engineer's papers (1965) (17 May 1965) — Jacques Vallée says a Martin Marietta engineer was upset when his papers were seen.
See every 1964 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFOs and the Air Force: records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
References
- "Three former U.S. Air Force ICBM launch officers speak out about UFOs", UFOs & Nukes (Robert Hastings, Oct 2013) · ufohastings.com · archived copy
- 579th Strategic Missile Squadron site locations — AtlasMissileSilo.com · atlasmissilesilo.com · archived copy
- "UFOs visited nuclear weapons sites, former Air Force officers say", History News Network (Sept 2010) · historynewsnetwork.org · archived copy
- ufohastings.com · ufohastings.com · archived copy
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 67 · oversight.house.gov
Categories: 1964 | Military encounters | Nuclear missile sites | Philip moore | Robert hastings | Roswell | Roswell army air field | Secrecy cover-up | Timeline event | Unidentified anomalous phenomena
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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